In 1609 Galileo viewed the sky through a 20X telescope and gave birth to modern astronomy

The boost from naked-eye astronomy revolutionized humanitys view of the cosmos

Ever since, astronomers have looked into space to uncover the natural history of our universe

LIGOs quest is to create a radically new way to perceive the universe, by directly listening to the vibrations of space itself

LIGO consists of large, earth-based, detectors that will act like huge microphones, listening for the most violent events in the universe

3The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ObservatoryLIGO (Washington)LIGO (Louisiana)Brought to you by the National Science Foundation operated by Caltech and MIT the research focus for about 350 LIGO Science Collaboration members worldwide. 4LIGO Laboratories Are Unique National FacilitiesLHO

Gravitational waves are ripples in space when it is stirred up by rapid motions of large concentrations of matter or energy

Rendering of space stirred by two orbiting black holes

10What Phenomena Do We Expect to Study With LIGO? 11The Nature of Gravitational Collapse and Its Outcomes

"Since I first embarked on my study of general relativity, gravitational collapse has been for me the most compelling implication of the theory - indeed the most compelling idea in all of physics . . . It teaches us that space can be crumpled like a piece of paper into an infinitesimal dot, that time can be extinguished like a blown-out flame, and that the laws of physics that we regard as 'sacred,' as immutable, are anything but.

John A. Wheeler in Geons, Black Holes and Quantum Foam

12The Undead Corpses of StarsNeutron Stars and Black Holes

Neutron stars have a mass equivalent to 1.4 suns packed into a ball 10 miles in diameter, enormous magnetic fields and high spin rates

15Searching for Echoesfrom Very Early UniverseSketch courtesy of Kip Thorne 16How does LIGO detect spacetime vibrations? 17Important Signature of Gravitational WavesGravitational waves shrink space along one axis perpendicular to the wave direction as they stretch space along another axis perpendicular both to the shrink axis and to the wave direction. 18Sketch of a Michelson InterferometerViewing 19How Small is 10-18 Meter? 20Observatory Facilities

Hanford and Livingston Lab facilities available starting 1997-8

16 km beam tube with 1.2-m diameter

Beam-tube foundations in plane 1 cm

Turbo roughing with ion pumps for steady state

Large experimental halls compatible with Class-3000 environment portable enclosures around open chambers compatible with Class-100

Some support buildings/laboratories still under construction

21Vibration Isolation Systems

Reduce in-band seismic motion by 4 - 6 orders of magnitude

Little or no attenuation below 10Hz

Large range actuation for initial alignment and drift compensation

Quiet actuation to correct for Earth tides and microseism at 0.15 Hz during observation

Organizations as diverse as the American Physical Society and the Congressional Budget Office have identified LIGO as the vanguard of 21st century science

Our role today is to identify how we best share the excitement and possibilities of this science and utilize it to meets critical needs in our communities

Let me introduce some ideas and activities we have developed to provide a backdrop for todays discussions

37K-12 Students and Teachers

K-12 programs in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Educational Service District (ESD) 123 in southeast Washington, Gladstone School District in Oregon, Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science Technology.

Scientist-Student-Teacher program started in 1999, involved 70 students on projects related to LIGO research in AY2002

LHO featured in The Scientific Method on the Job video for Middle/High School science resource

40Long-term microseism connection to ocean-wave activitySeasonal trend in microseism identified in early analysis (left) found to agree qualitatively with ocean-buoy wave-height data (below) 41Internet-Accessible Resources for Teachers, by Teachers 42Web Lesson Plans Tied to State Standards in WA OR 43Integrated In-Class and Field Trip Activities 44College Students and Faculty

REU/SURF program involves 4 undergrad research interns/yr at LHO hosting SURF field trip from CIT

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